And the Alphabet
by Lady Priscilla Violet Regina
Summary: Miliardo and Noin are trying to teach their son, Michael, the alphabet, by finding words for each letter having to do with GW. Mikey is such a cutey!


And The Alphabet

By: Priscilla Violet Regina

Disclaimer: Why write fanfics about them when I could just write a series? Meaning sorry, if you sue, you won't win, for one thing, and if you did...well I don't have much. ~.ó

"No, sweetheart, like this...," Lucrezia broke into song once more, but for the hundred and eleventh time. "A, B, C, D, E, F, G...," she smiled at the young boy she was instructing. He had long, violet hair, and yet it almost had a blonde tint to it when the light hit it. Or maybe that was Miliardo Peacecraft's reflection; it was hard to tell.

"A...C...G...," the boy sang tentatively, very unsure of himself. Knowing there was more to the song, he tried to continue. "E...A...no wait, I said that already...thirteen...," he added hastily, cheeks turning a shade of red that would make an apple look pale.

Behind him, his father chuckled softly to himself. "Oi, Son chibi Michael...listen to your mother. Remember that one song?" Miliardo asked, trying himself to remember it. "Something about stars?" He glanced at Noin, or, now, Peacecraft, pleading through his eyes for help. A small grin tugged at the corner of her lips, and she shook her head.

"You're on your own," she whispered. 

Crestfallen, Zechs replied with, "I thought you said you'd never leave my side!"

Michael looked up at the Lightning Count, tugging at his father's shirt tail. "Daddy, is it 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' ? Is that the song?"

Tearing himself away from his wife's infectious grin, he seemed thoughtful for a moment stroking his chin. 'How is it that I could have all this hair on my head, yet I never spouted one tiny stubble on my face?' he wondered. Noticing his son's impatient look, Zechs returned to reality for a brief moment.

"Doesn't that one go like this?" he asked, clearing his throat. He opened his mouth to sing the simple tune, but no sound came out. Coughing and pounding his chest, he tried to take a drink of water, but it ended up on his wife and son. Finally, he was able to sing; and sing he did.

Lucrezia had always loved hearing her husband sing. Lord knows he didn't do it often, but she never knew why. His voice was a fine, deep, rich baritone, and it seemed to flow over everything in the room, smoothing it out. She stopped thinking for a moment to listen.

"A, B, C, D, E, F, G...now, listen while I sing this twinkly star one, alright?" Continuing, using the same melody as before, he sang, "Twinkle, twinkle, little star...," 

The boy sat watching, amazed. Lucrezia smiled over at him, and he grabbed her hand, squeezing it tight. Miliardo paused for moment in his rendition of the Mozart tune, noticing his son and wife staring at him. Flushing deeply, he asked in a mock annoyed voice, "What?"

"Daddy, I didn't know that boys were allowed to sing. You sing real nice...sing some more, Daddy, please!" 

The former OZ Colonel smiled to himself, and patted his son on the shoulder. "Michael, let's hear you sing it. First, hum the tune for your mother and I, alright?"

"But Daddy, I know the tune. It's the numbers I can't amember," the Peacecraft boy protested.

"Numbers?" Zechs mouth to Noin, confusion flooding over his handsome features.

A knowing smirk grabbed the corners of her lips and pulled them outward, producing that infectious grin of hers again. She turned to her son, correcting him. "No, dear, it's letters, not numbers. Numbers are for counting; letters are for spelling,"

"And singing hard songs...," her son added gloomily.

"Oh, buddy, it's not that hard. They all go alphabetically, just remember that!" Miliardo exclaimed, thinking he had just found the ideal solution to the problem. The only thing wrong with it was that people normally don't understand the term alphabetically unless they know the alphabet. And Michael didn't.

"Daddy," the boy began in his own logic, which actually made sense for a young child to be saying. "I don't know what that is. Remember, I'm only this many," he held up a hand with all of his fingers spread out as far as they would go. "And you are _this _many!" Holding up both of his hands now, he rapidly contracted and expelled his tiny fingers to indicate a number more than ten.

Zechs considered this, and realized his mistake. "Oh...," he muttered, seeming a bit more interested in the carpet than anyone else. Lucrezia laughed, her merriment expressed in a tinkling, almost bell-like sound. Suddenly, her home-made music stopped as the halogen in her head lit up.

"Mikey, honey, do you think that if we came up with words to correspond with the letters, could you remember it a little easier?" his mother asked, fervently hoping it would work. Zechs's eyes lit up; 'This might work!' he thought optimistically. 

The five year old pondered over this, rubbing his chin as he had seen his father do. But his thoughts were a bit different... 'I wonder what worms taste like...maybe like chocolate, since they always have dirt on them and dirt looks like chocolate...I'll have to do that later! Yeah!' He glanced at his parents, who were watching him expectantly. 'Oh no!' he thought, suddenly scared. 'I forgot that Daddy can read klips, and I'm sure that he can read minds too! Oh no! He'll know that I want to...wait-maybe he wasn't before, so if I don't think anything about eating worms then he won't know!' he grinned, extremely happy about his discovery, and added quickly, "Okay," to disapprove any ideas his parents might have gotten at his previous frightened look.

Lucrezia knew that facial expression her son gave them.

"Mikey, do you need to go potty?"

'How did she get that idea?' her son thought, frowning. "No, Mommy,"

"Are you sure?" she pressed, not believing his disagreement.

"Yes, Mommy. What were you saying about using words to amember?" Michael changed to subject rapidly.

Miliardo smiled. Sometimes he believed his son was smarter than normal five year olds...but, then again, that would make sense. After all, he _was_ the famous Zechs Merquise's son. And we all know how smart Zechs is...

"Well, dear, we could take each letter of the Alphabet and assign a word to it. Such as A is for..,"

"Altron," The Peacecraft prince interrupted. The former OZ lieutenant stared, blinking disbelievingly at what she had just heard husband say.

"What was that, dear?" Noin asked, adopting a tone of 'What the hell do you think you're doing?' and giving him an expression that matched her intent.

"I said 'Altron' sweetie. Think you can remember that, son?" Miliardo inquired, seeming a bit over-enthusiastic. 

Lucrezia's firm grip settled on her husband's muscle packed arm, squeezing tight enough to make him wince at the pain. Turning him so their backs were to Michael, she spitted out through clenched teeth, "I thought we decided no until he's older. Or did you suddenly change that agreement, honey?" the dangerously low voice Mrs. Peacecraft emitted while using her pet name for him cause a visible shudder to run through his body. Inwardly, he was grinning; he loved her like this, it was such a turn-on when she was angry. Realizing her vise grip on him wasn't letting up until he produced a suitable explanation, the former Count answered with a good reason. At least, he thought it was good.

"Well, Lucrezia, he _is_ too young to understand what we went through and everything that happened, but if he knows at least some of the terms, and if it helps him with his Alphabet, I don't see a reason why not. I mean, what harm can it do?"

Trying to understand her husband's logic but ending in vain, Noin sighed deeply, decided to go along with it. "Alright, if you think it will help,"

Michael sat on the table, hands in his pockets, and feet dangling over the side. He kicked them back and forth, and for a moment his mother saw Duo Maxwell sitting there, acting very much like he was ten years younger. Oh, how she missed him...and all of the other pilots too, for that matter. Yet, she reminded herself that that was the past, and she had her whole life ahead of her, spending it with the only man she had ever loved. Taking the seat next to her son, she began to imitate him perfectly until he noticed and playfully pushed her, saying, "Mom!" in a mock 'You're embarrassing me, quit it!' tone.

"So, do you know what the first letter of the Alphabet it?" the boy's father asked.

"Altron," he responded, full of confidence.

"Very good. And now for B...have any ideas, Mommy?" Zechs questioned, trying to sound childish but failing horribly. His voice was way too masculine for that.

"Barton,"

"As in...,"he paused, then mouthed, "Trowa?" to her. Receiving a nod, he continued. "I know C, it's Colonies,"

"D should be for Dorothy,"

"And E for Epyon...Epyon, what a great...," Miliardo stopped, remembering he couldn't say something as specific as "Mobile Suit." Thinking quickly, he added, "what a great dog that was...Now, what about F?"

A small voice piped up from between the two OZ traitors. "Fight?" 

The adults looked at each other, astonished. "What makes you say that, dear?" his mother asked.

"It's something I'll remember because it's Number 1on Daddy's list of 'Things Not To Do Ever',"

"And where did you see this?"

"I didn't; Daddy told me. You silly Mommy, you know I can't read yet!" Michael exclaimed, laughing at his mother's ignorance.

"Your father said never to fight?" Lucrezia asked, eyes growing wide in amazement. Her husband, the Lightning Count, had told her, no, their son, never ever to fight. "Oh Zechs...," she sighed into his arms. Embracing each other warmly, she remembered why she had fallen in love with him in the first place. There was just so much to his character; he was so intense. Yes, his ego was enormous, but she had herself to thank for that. She never told him, but when they were trainees at the Lake Victoria base, she had let him graduate higher than her, simply because by then she knew she loved him. Joining reality again, she heard Michael singing the Alphabet from A to G perfectly, using the Operation Meteor terms they had come up with as aids.

"Altron, Barton, Colonies, Dorothy, Epyon, Fighting, Gundams...," he crooned, never hesitating once, and not even asking what the reasons for choosing these specific words was. 

Miliardo continued with the next part of the song, still keeping the melody as he said the words. "Heero, Independence, Justice, Khushrenada, Lucrezia, Miliardo, Noin, Otto, Peacecraft," It was a bit hard to do, but he maneuvered it as well as if he were piloting the Tallgeese once again. Their son listened intently, then imitated his hero flawlessly, even mimicking his father's facial expressions.

Deciding to join her "men" in the fun, she stopped her husband from going further. "No, honey, let me sing the next part. I haven't done much singing recently," she smiled in spite of herself. What a lie! Before this had started she hummed, whistled, and crooned all morning long. "And I want this next verse all to myself! Plus, this is an important list of words, and I already know what to say," she kissed her husband briefly, enjoying the savory taste of his sweet lips.

"Q is for Quatre, of course, and R," she grasped Miliardo's hand behind her back. "stands for Relena. I'll just sing it, it will make it a bit easier. Quatre, Relena, Shinigami, Trowa, Une, Virgo...,"

"Wufei, X...," Zechs stopped. "What about X?" Realizing the real reason his wife decided to do that block of letters, he reprimanded her playfully. "I see why you did those letters! You just didn't want to get stuck with X!"

Grinning broadly, Lucrezia answered with a sugar sweetened coating, "No, honey, I knew a man of your intelligence could be creative enough to come up with something for that specific letter,"

At first her "Honey," so called for his hair color, seemed to not understand that she had just complimented him. 'Sometimes I believe that ego of his took over inside his head, and kicked out his brain!' she thought as she watched him still comprehending her response. Finally she saw happiness crawl across his face, bringing with it a smile and a large, wet kiss as a 'Thank you!'

"Alright, let's see if you I can impress your mother with my undying wit and endless...,"

"Waltz?" Noin interrupted, a smile on her lips.

"What?" he asked, frowning.

She responded quickly with, "Nothing...," and resumed filing her nails.

Miliardo stared at her for a moment, trying to understand what she had said and why, but was stopped by a light patting on his hand.

"It's alright, Daddy," Michael comforted. "Sometimes I don't unnerstan what Mommy says or does either, but all we need to amember is that we love her no matter what," he nodded knowingly, watching his unaware Mother with love filled eyes. The OZ Colonel sat too, watching her, but with different thoughts running through his head that that of his son's. He was more amazed at the fact that Michael could act so adult like and mature at only the age of five, even though he didn't have a clue as to what he was talking about in the first place.

The boy was astonished. 'I guess Daddy wasn't listening to my brain talking earlier...he hasn't even mentioned eating worms...Mmmm...worms...,'

"I know!" he shouted, nearly knocking over his mother at the sudden loudness of his voice. "X-celent Mommy and Daddy!" he exclaimed. The brightness of his smile made Miliardo want to wince; it was blinding.

"Well, dear, if you can remember it that way, then sure. Daddy, what are the last two letters?" Mrs. Peacecraft inquired, poking her thoughtful husband in the ribs.

Squirming, the Peacecraft heir focused on reality once again and retuned from La La Land, bags in hand and ready to stay. Unconsciously, Zechs replied almost immediately with, "Yuy and Zechs," 

Michael thought about this for moment. "Mommy, what is Zechs? I've heard you call Daddy it before, but Daddy's name is Miliardo,"

Lucrezia smiled sweetly at her only child. "Zechs is a nickname Daddy had a long time ago when he and I were in the military. He was Zechs Merquise, the Lightning Count, and I was Lieutenant Noin. Your father and I went to the Academy together; that's where he got that name, I believe. Right, dear?"

"Yes, Treize gave me that name," The Lightning Count responded, drifting off. "Now, Mikey, would you like to run through the whole song for us again? We would love to listen; you have our undivided attention. Please, entertain us with your wonderful feats of intelligence and memorization skills,"

"Of course, Daddy, Mommy, I'd be delighted to! Alright here goes...

Altron, Barton, Colonies, Dorothy, Epyon, Fights, Gundams...

Heero, Independence, Justice, Khushrenada, Lucrezia, Miliardo, Noin, Otto, Peacecraft...

Quatre, Relena, Shinigami...

Trowa, Une, Virgo...

Wufei, X-celent parents,

Yuy and

ZECHS!"

The applause of his overjoyed parents resonated off of the walls of the sun room they were in, forcing Michael to take several bows in acknowledgment.

When the clapping had subsided, the Peacecraft boy stood at attention (or his version of an attention position) and awaited his parents criticism.

"Very good, very good, son, but there was just one mistake. Do you know what it was?" his father asked, a mischievous glint in his eye.

Mikey shifted uneasily from putting the weight on one foot to the other, and back again, while Noin gave her husband a questioning look

"No, Daddy, what?" he said after some time.

Miliardo, trying to keep a straight face, replied laughingly with, "There's no 'and' in the Alphabet!"

His son frowned, then soon after understood what his father meant, and tackled him, tickling his ribs as hard as he could.

"DADDY!!!!"


End file.
